Identification of the pre–T-cell receptor α chain in nonmammalian vertebrates challenges the structure–function of the molecule Philippe Smeltya, Céline Marchala, Romain Renarda, Ludivine Sinzelleb, Nicolas Polletb, Dominique Dunona, Thierry Jaffredoa, Jean-Yves Sirec, and Julien S. Fellaha,1 aUniversité Pierre et Marie Curie, Unité Mixte de Recherche-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique 7622, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France; bUniversité d’Evry Val d’Essonne, Genopole Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 91058 Evry, France; and cUniversité Pierre et Marie Curie, Unité Mixte de Recherche-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique 7138, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France Edited by Philippa Marrack, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO, and approved October 13, 2010 (received for review July 15, 2010) In humans and mice, the early development of αβ T cells is controlled and the 3′ UTR. Recently, porcine PTCRA was reported to by the pre–T-cell receptor α chain (pTα) that is covalently associated possess an additional exon 1 designated “exon 1b,” the function with the T-cell receptor β (TCRβ) chain to form the pre–T-cell receptor of which is yet to be defined (7). However, despite the crucial (pre-TCR) at the thymocyte surface. Pre-TCR functions in a ligand- regularory role played by pTα in the control of αβ T-cell pro- independent manner through self-oligomerization mediated by pTα. duction, the presence of this protein in nonmammalian species Using in silico and gene synteny-based approaches, we identified has never been addressed. the pTα gene (PTCRA) in four sauropsid (three birds and one reptile) By combining in silico analyses and various molecular techni- genomes. We also identified 25 mammalian PTCRA sequences now ques, we describe PTCRA orthologs in sauropsids (birds and covering all mammalian lineages. Gene synteny around PTCRA is re- reptiles). We show that sauropsidian and mammalian PTCRA markably conserved in mammals but differences upstream of PTCRA share a common organization with conserved functional domains. in sauropsids suggest chromosomal rearrangements. PTCRA organi- In addition, the comparison of mammalian and sauropsidian gene zation is highly similar in sauropsids and mammals. However, com- synteny around PTCRA shows that this region has undergone parative analyses of the pTα functional domains indicate that sau- chromosomal rearrangements in a mammalian ancestor. More- ropsids, monotremes, marsupials, and lagomorphs display a short over, the pTα of sauropsidians and some mammals (monotremes, pTα cytoplasmic tail and lack most residues shown to be critical for marsupials, and lagomorphs) possess specific molecular features human and murine pre-TCR self-oligomerization. Chicken PTCRA distinct from human and mouse pTα. Taken together, our data transcripts similar to those in mammals were detected in immature lead us to propose a putative primary function for pTα in amniote double-negative and double-positive thymocytes. These findings ancestors and provide arguments for revisiting some of the give clues about the evolution of this key molecule in amniotes and mechanisms initially attributed to mammalian pTα signaling. α suggest that the ancestral function of pT was exclusively to enable IMMUNOLOGY expression of the TCRβ chain at the thymocyte surface and to allow Results binding of pre-TCR to the CD3 complex. Together, our data provide Identification of Sauropsidian PTCRA. To target the genomic region arguments for revisiting the current model of pTα signaling. housing PTCRA, we used a strategy based on gene synteny con- servation. Because PTCRA had been identified in only a few fi he early steps of intrathymic αβ T-cell production are con- mammalian species, we rst decided to screen all the available PTCRA SI Materials and trolled by the expression of the pre–T-cell receptor (pre-TCR) mammalian genomes for the presence of ( T Methods fi PTCRA through a mecanism called “TCRβ selection” (1). The pre-T cells ). We identi ed 25 mammalian sequences to- that harbor a productive T-cell receptor β (TCRβ) rearrangement gether with their gene environment (Fig. S1). We found that gene PTCRA express a pre-TCR composed of the TCRβ chain covalently linked synteny around was remarkably conserved in the mam- PTCRA to the invariant, nonrearranging pre-T–cell receptor α (pTα) chain malian lineage (Fig. 1). was located between ribosomal RPL7L1 CNPY3 associated with the CD3 complex (2). Signaling through the pre- protein L7-like 1 ( ) upstream and canopy 3 ( ) dwonstream. At least five genes upstream and nine genes down- TCR rescues developing T cells from programmed cell death and PTCRA induces further differentiation into immature T cells. Several im- stream of were conserved with the same respective order from human to platypus on both sides of the RPL7L1-PTCRA- portant functions have been attributed to the pre-TCR, including CNPY3 pre-T cell survival and proliferation, TCRβ allelic exclusion, T-cell segment (Fig. 1). Thus this gene synteny was present in the receptor α (TCRα) rearrangement, and induction of CD4 and last common mammalian ancestor and conserved for more than α 200 million years (My). CD8 expression (2). pT thus is an essential component of the pre- CNPY3 RPL7L1 TCR as shown in pTα gene (PTCRA)-deficient mice in which and therefore were considered the appro- αβ priate boundaries to look for PTCRA in the chicken genome (SI development of T cells is severely affected (1). Pre-TCR is Materials and Methods fi CNPY3 believed to function in a ligand-independent manner through self- ). We rst localized on chicken oligomerization mediated by the extracellular part of pTα and to activate signal transduction pathways (3). The cytoplasmic tail (CT) of pTα, in particular its proline-rich motif, was shown to be Author contributions: P.S., T.J., and J.S.F. designed research; P.S., C.M., R.R., L.S., J.-Y.S., and J.S.F. performed research; N.P., D.D., and J.-Y.S. contributed new reagents/analytic required for pre-TCR signaling (4). tools; P.S., L.S., N.P., D.D., T.J., J.-Y.S., and J.S.F. analyzed data; and T.J., J.-Y.S., and J.S.F. PTCRA was identified initially in human and mouse (5, 6). The wrote the paper. PTCRA transcription unit consists of four exons. Exon 1 encodes The authors declare no conflict of interest. the 5′ UTR, the leader peptide, and the first three amino acids of This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. the protein; exon 2 encodes the extracellular Ig-like domain; Data deposition: The chicken PTCRA sequences reported in this article have been depos- exon 3 encodes the connecting peptide that contains the cysteine ited in the GenBank database (accession no. HM630316). residue required for the interchain disulfide bond with the TCRβ 1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected]. chain; and exon 4, encodes the hydrophobic transmembrane This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10. region, the long proline-rich CT involved in pre-TCR signaling, 1073/pnas.1010166107/-/DCSupplemental. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1010166107 PNAS | November 16, 2010 | vol. 107 | no. 46 | 19991–19996 Downloaded by guest on September 25, 2021 were identified upstream chicken CNPY3 (Fig. 1). In human, these two genes map to chromosome 2, whereas PTCRA is found on chromosome 6. Because the putative PTCRA was not annotated in the chicken genome, we explored the genomic region located between CNPY3 and POLR1B with UniDPlot using mammalian PTCRA exon 2 as a template. A sequence recognized as the chicken PTCRA exon 2 was identified close to CNPY3, followed by the identification of exons 1 and 3. Exon 4 and the 3′ UTR were not found because a gap was present in the genomic region between PTCRA exon 3 and CNPY3 exon 2. We recovered the missing region using PCR on genomic DNA and obtained a sequence of approximatively 2 kb. Full-transcript sequences of chicken PTCRA then were obtained using RT-PCR and rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE)-PCR on RNA isolated from chicken thymus. Chicken PTCRA was composed of four exons (Fig. S2). Ex- ploring the intron 1 sequence did not yield any indication of the presence of exon 1b as found in some mammals (Fig. 2 and Fig. S1). The length of the first three exons was similar in mammalian and chicken PTCRA, but chicken exon 4 was shorter. In chicken, PTCRA introns were significantly shorter than their mammalian counterparts, a characteristic attributed to the high degree of genome compaction in this species. The longest PTCRA tran- script encompassed 1,569 nt, including a short 5′ UTR (79 nt) and a large 3′ UTR (980 nt). A total of 510 nt codes the protein composed of 170 amino acids. The discovery of chicken PTCRA was instrumental in identifying its orthologs in two other bird genomes, zebrafinch and turkey, and in a lizard (Anolis carolinensis) genome. The sauropsidian se- quences were validated using alignment with the chicken se- quence. Lizard PTCRA exon 1 was not found in the genomic DNA because of a poorly assembled sequence at this locus. In sauropsids, gene synteny upstream of PTCRA differs from that described in mammals, confirming that a chromosomal rearrangement occurred in this genomic region after the di- vergence between the sauropsidian and mammalian lineages. Synteny immediately downstream of PTCRA was similar in the Fig. 1. Gene organization around PTCRA from representative osteichthyan four sauropsidian genomes, indicating that this region was stable genomes. In mammals (human, mouse, opossum, and platypus), gene synteny for more than 255 My; however, a synteny break was found be- is conserved with CNPY3 and RPL7L1 located respectively downstream and fi tween birds and lizard after peroxisomal biogenesis factor 6 upstream of PTCRA.